An Overnight Guest

Right after work on Friday, I picked up our 2 1/2 year old overnight guest. I spent a little bit of time with him and his brother, finishing packing up his stuff as his mom picked up his dad from work. It was fun to give them a little breather before totally stealing Parker away for the night.

I love watching Nolan's 4 month old face turn into a rip-roaring giggle fest!!

Then some sweet brother farewell time.

The drive to our house was enjoyable as I pointed out the big trucks and train tracks. He asked for his favorite song and thankfully it came on the radio twice as we drove. He kept announcing "Shell's house!!!" and "almost there!!!" {even when we were 20 minutes away lol}. He was excited to see Tim and kept asking for him.

He said "Shell's house" as we pulled into the driveway, and asked me to open the garage {he's obsessed with garages}. He ran into the house, remembering where his room was, and didn't seem to have any problem with any of it. Quite a bit different from the last time when he was tentative and a little scared. I liked this version much better. :)

Enjoying some "Bob the Builder" and a banana while I made dinner.

We're both really happy Tim's home - and we enjoyed some Polish sausage, rice, and mixed veggies together.

I'd specially prepared Parker's room by removing everything that could possibly be harmful for him to get into so that if he woke up and started playing without supervision it wouldn't be a problem {last time he was here he wasn't mobile yet and still slept in a crib/pack-n-play}.

Thankfully after we put him down at 8 p.m., he slept until 6:30 a.m. and then just asked for me. I found him sitting up in the bed, waving at me, and enthusiastically said "hi Shell!!" when I got him. Then it was snuggle in the bed time with us, and he had fun playing Angry Birds together with Tim on his phone. Then it was on to my computer and "Curious George" while Tim got ready for his 5k training run at our church.

 

With Tim gone, we ate cereal & cinnamon/raisin bread for breakfast, then took it easy relaxing to some videos, playing, tickling, and more snuggle time.

Tim came back, we ran out to meet him, Parker waved and cheered like crazy, and I left them to their bonding time to squeeze in a quick shower. Then we traded off and Tim showered while Parker & I had a snack of yogurt, granola, & grapes.

Then it was time to experiment with our brand-new sprinkler! It has 8 different options and we tried every one of them! Parker was tentative at first, since at home he's used to a wading pool and hose with a sprinkler type of nozzle. He's been to splash parks and such, so he's used to different things with water, but he definitely had a hesitation with this.

It took some convincing, and a little pushing from Tim...

Running around it at first instead of through it.

Finally getting closer and turning away after just starting to get wet.

As we tried out the various settings, Tim would go to the spicket, turn off the water, come to the sprinker and change the setting, and then run back to the spicket to turn the water back on. But he'd wait for a second because Parker would be looking at the sprinkler, sometimes saying "it's broken!", or patting it saying "water come back!"...

...so then Tim would turn the water on...

...much to Parker's delight and amusement!! He'd giggle hysterically and high-tail it out of there.

After a few times, he joined Tim in running over to the spicket to help turn the water off and on.

As time went on, he got more and more into it and was having a blast!

Eventually he was soaked - and then he decided he wanted to "hold me" so he'd run up and give me a giant hug time and time again. Tim got it with the high-speed camera setting so that there were multiple shots of him running up to me. Here are a few:

After all that, he still wasn't running through it in the middle, so I decided the best way to have that happen was for me to take him with me {and besides I was already wet anyway, so why not?!}. I held his hand and we ran through it together. It was SO fun!!!

{side note: I really don't mind running through water, my eyes were just tightly shut to avoid drying out my contacts!}

And a couple more for good measure because he's just too cute and I can't resist.....

:) So happy. What a kid!! We had a blast and I'm so glad we were able to do this!

After that we got all dried off and settled in for some videos and relaxation. Parker was so sweet and snuggling afterward for a little bit. 

Then it was time to finish drying off and get dressed, and he helped Tim get the mail and got all friendly with our neighbors. :)

{I loveeeee seeing Tim with a little sidekick!!!! Makes this heart very happy!}

Took a look at some of our flowers....

Then it was time for lunch - peanut butter & jelly sandwiches {a favorite of Parker's}, organic applesauce, and some BBQ chips. We'd managed to wear Parker out so he ate his applesauce but that was about it.

Then nap time and he slept for 3 hours!! Wow we really did tucker him out! He woke up again all happy and delightful, without leaving the room until I came to get him. He was very happy to see Tim & I and I'm glad he knew where he was upon waking up without being startled or crying. It was sweet!

After I got him up & ready, he was ready for snack time. I served him the rest of his PB & J sandwich, and he begged for some more yogurt, so I totally caved. Then we played and played and played. And I soaked in every possible second because I didn't want it to end. He wanted to see the garage again so we let him help us push the button to have it go up and down a couple times, let him walk around in it and inspect the way it works. Some jump shots with Tim at the hoop, and it was time to go.

Buckled in with all his stuff in our car - ready to meet up with his parents and brother at a restaurant nearby. Sad to see him go, but we had such a good time!

It all went very smoothly and was incredibly enjoyable. I think just having him one night and having him at an age where he's easier to entertain, easier to understand as he talks in complete sentences, even more mobile than before like climbing into his car seat instead of being lifted in, and so on, worked out better than the two nights we'd done last time.

It was also easier to do the transition at a public place rather than one of our turfs. He was happy to see mom & dad and ran up to give them a hug {versus last time when he said "no daddy, no mama" and ran down the hallway away from them at our house....}. It was all just so confusing to him before like they'd abandoned him or something so it was a natural reaction. This time he seemed to gel with it better but I think the neutral territory really helped him too. {Although when we left the restaurant he did say "wanna go back Shell's house!" LOL!}

I still heard his voice echoing through our halls that night and the next day. It was freakishly quiet, but not in the lonely, sad kind of way it was the last time.

Now that we've had a couple overnights under our belts, it was just all more seamless than before. It'll be easier and easier each time, and with our close connection with Parker, we could see this happening perhaps a bit more often.

But we'll see. ;)

Thanks for tolerating the long post. It's nice for me to have it documented even if it's not all that interesting to you. ;) I so enjoy the connections we have with Parker and the family, it's so special, and I just can't help sharing the details. He's the closest thing I have to a kid of my own and I'll brag til I'm blue in the face because I just am so amazed at the love I have for that boy!!

Simply incredible.